


Three times the trip back to the Lifeboat was slightly more exciting than usual

by SnufflestheBear



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 08:18:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8704792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnufflestheBear/pseuds/SnufflestheBear
Summary: Most of the time, all the action is over by the time they head back home. This means that the walk back to the Lifeboat is probably pretty dull. Here are three times when it was slightly (just slightly) more interesting than usual.





	1. Pets are cool

“Can we keep it?”  
  
“No, we absolutely cannot keep it.”  
  
“But look, it’s following us home.”  
  
Wyatt looks behind them and, sure enough, the damned thing is right on their six. “Still no,” he says.  
  
“But think about how cool it would be to have him as a pet.”  
  
“We are not taking that thing in the lifeboat,” says Wyatt, not missing the way Rufus has switched from ‘it’ to ‘he’. “Lucy, back me up on this.”  
  
Lucy is suspiciously silent. When Wyatt looks at her, she’s staring behind them with a wistful expression.  
  
“Oh, come on,” he says.  
  
“Just hear me out,” says Rufus. “They’re extinct, right? How cool would it be to be able to study one and learn about their habits and their biology and–”  
  
“You think it’ll impress Jiya.”  
  
“Well, yes,” admits Rufus. “She’d think he’s awesome, because he is.”  
  
“He’s so cute,” says Lucy. “Surely it couldn’t hurt to-”  
  
“Am I seriously the only adult here right now?” Wyatt can’t quite believe this is happening. “We can’t take an extinct bird on the Lifeboat! We have no idea how it would react, and if we did get it home, what if word of it got out? What kind of questions would that raise? What if it’s carrying the plague or something?”  
  
Lucy and Rufus both lower their heads, abashed. Behind them, the dodo gives a plaintive squawk as it waddles after them. Wyatt shakes his head. This is what he gets for letting Rufus feed the stupid thing. Though he has to admire its tenacity, he thinks, as he glances back. It’s been following them for a couple of miles now, when he’d have thought it would have lost interest long ago. Maybe it’s developed some kind of crush on Lucy or Rufus or something. He peeks behind them again – just doing a perimeter check, he tells himself. The dodo is watching them alertly, and when it sees him looking, it stretches out its ridiculous neck and gives another squawk.  
  
He catches himself smiling. It _is_ kind of cute. “Oh no,” he says aloud. “No way. We are leaving that thing here, where it belongs.”  
  
Lucy’s caught him looking, though, and she’s smiling mischievously. “We could name him Frodo. Frodo the dodo.”  
  
“We’re _not_ naming him,” says Wyatt.  
  
“Frodo’s kind of twee,” says Rufus. “We should call him Alfred or Henry or something. You know, something with dignity.”  
  
“Stop trying to name the bird! He’s not coming with us.”  
  
“I bet we can change your mind by the time we reach the lifeboat.”  
  
“Not a chance,” says Wyatt. The bird is staying here. There are way too many risks involved in bringing him back. It’s just not going to happen. Behind him, Alfred squawks.  
  
Two hours later, Jiya is cooing at the newly named Alfred Dodo III, Esq., while Wyatt wonders when he started going soft.


	2. Arguments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good-natured bickering can help to pass the time.

“You _shot_ me, is all I’m saying.”  
  
“I did not shoot you, Rufus.”  
  
“A bullet from _your_ gun penetrated my flesh!”  
  
“It did not penetrate your flesh. It penetrated your ridiculous, puffy-sleeved shirt.”  
  
Lucy allows herself a smile as she listens to the bickering – it’s a good way to let off steam after a tough but mostly successful mission. Her colleagues’ arguments are no Lincoln-Douglas debates, but they tend to be entertaining enough as long as they’re good-natured.  
  
“It could have penetrated my flesh. You had no way of knowing.”  
  
_Any second now_ , Lucy thinks. _Three, two, one…_  
  
Right on time, Rufus says, “Lucy, back me up on this.”  
  
“Well,” she says, thoughtfully, “If he hadn’t done it, that guard would have killed you.”  
  
“ _Thank_ you,” says Wyatt.  
  
“On the other hand,” says Lucy, “You did shoot Flynn when he was using me as a shield. Maybe you just like shooting at us.”  
  
“I think I did pretty well, considering I was tripping balls at the time.”  
  
“Oh sure,” says Rufus, “The old ‘enemy forcibly fed me LSD’ excuse.”  
  
That brings up a frightening memory that’s a little too recent to face head-on, so Lucy steps carefully around it. “That wasn’t LSD,” she says. “LSD is way more fun.”  
  
Rufus and Wyatt both stop dead in their tracks, turning to stare at her. She meets their gaze evenly, blushing only slightly. “What? I was in a college band!” They keep staring, so she adds, “Besides, LSD wasn’t invented until 1943.”  
  
“1938,” Rufus corrects. “It just took them five years to find out about the hallucinogenic properties. I went to college too, you know.”  
  
Wyatt shakes his head at both of them before resuming the walk to the lifeboat. “You two are terrible role models,” he says.  
  
“I’ll have you know I’m an excellent role model,” says Rufus. “Unlike some gun-happy soldiers I could mention.”  
  
Lucy grins, mostly because there’s no way she’ll believe that Rufus has even seen LSD, and follows behind them.


	3. Fleeing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Running away isn't necessarily fun, but it's not boring!

“This is your fault!”  
  
"Me?" Despite his burning lungs, Rufus finds enough air to protest the stunning injustice of the accusation. "You're the one who pissed off the French!"  
  
“You’re the one who pissed off the Americans!”  
  
In front of him, Lucy looks like she’s about to miss the next turn to the lifeboat. “Left!” Rufus shouts, and she obliges. Behind him, Wyatt fires twice, just to dissuade their pursuers.  
  
“You…” Rufus pauses to suck in a breath before continuing the argument. “You’re the one who punched out that royal guy.”  
  
“It was necessary!” Rufus notes with jealousy that Wyatt seems a lot less out of breath than he and Lucy are as he adds, “Lucy, back me-“  
  
“No!” shouts Lucy, turning to glare at them over her shoulder. “I’m not backing up anyone! We are _running for our lives_ here, so now is not the time for a petty argument about whose fault this is!”  
  
Now that she mentions it, Rufus has to admit that it does seem like a good idea to save his energy for running.  
  
A minute later, Wyatt shouts, “Whoa!” They come to an abrupt halt, gasping and panting and generally acting like a group of people who have been running first through a small city and then through the countryside for a good twenty minutes. Wyatt holds up a hand to signal for silence (Rufus and Lucy do their best to wheeze quietly), watching behind them tensely. After a few moments, he relaxes a little.  
  
“I think we lost them,” he says, quietly, “but keep it down, okay?”  
  
As if he could talk anyway right now, Rufus thinks, all too aware that Wyatt seems almost recovered already. _Time to hit the gym,_ he thinks. The ridiculousness of the thought makes him grin. Wyatt’s not grinning, though, as he waves them ahead and takes up a watchful position behind them. Instead, he’s looking very thoughtful.  
  
“You know,” he says, slowly, “Lucy’s the one that wanted to try negotiating with both the French and the Americans to begin with.”  
  
“That’s true,” says Rufus. “The mission was over. You and I just wanted to head home.”  
  
“It was important!” says Lucy.  
  
“But was it?” he asks.  
  
“Yes!” she says.  
  
“But was it, though?” asks Wyatt, mischief in his voice. “No wonder you didn’t want to back me up back there.”  
  
“We had to undo some of the damage Flynn did!”  
  
“We already did that,” Rufus reminds her. “Admit it, you just wanted to meet Benjamin Franklin.”  
  
There’s a brief pause. “That… might have factored into my decision. A little. But I didn’t expect you two to start slinging insults and throwing punches!”  
  
Rufus looks to Wyatt; they exchange a delighted grin. “Lucy has a crush on Benjamin Franklin,” says Rufus.  
  
Lucy sputters for a second, but all she says is, “I hate you.”  
  
“Oh my God!” says Wyatt. “That means it’s actually true! Lucy has a crush on Benjamin Franklin!”  
  
“I hate you,” Lucy repeats.  
  
A second later, a bullet zings off a tree inches from Rufus’s head. Then they’re running again, so Lucy is temporarily off the hook – but Rufus makes sure to file the information away for later. He can get a lot of mileage out of knowledge like that, and he intends to milk it for every ounce of blushing Lucy he can manage.


End file.
